Virtual judicial review hearing of the Election Law for a case filed by Jaya Suprana, Tuesday (3/8/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W.M.

---

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 19:30 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Although a number of judicial review petitions on presidential threshold in Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) were dismissed, it has not deterred the people to petition the a quo law to the Constitutional Court (MK). This time, Jaya Suprana challenged Article 222 of the Election Law materially in case No. 16/PUU-XX/2022.

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, broadcast from the plenary courtroom, Jaya Suprana, who attended the hearing virtually without a counsel, argued that Article 222 of the Election Law had restricted the people’s right to run in the presidential election. The article reads, “A presidential candidate ticket shall be nominated by a political party (or a coalition thereof) contesting in an election that has managed to win at least 20% (twenty percent) of DPR seats or 25% (twenty-five percent) of national valid votes in the previous election of members of the DPR.”

“Due to the provision on presidential threshold, [I] do not wish to continue [running in election] because [I] do not have access to political parties and do not have funding,” he said before Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Enny Nurbaningsih, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

In the petitum, he requested that the Court declare Article 222 of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding.

Justices’ Advice

In response, Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul advised the Petitioner to add the latest Constitutional Court Law and regulation and to elaborate his constitutional impairment. He also asked the Petitioner to study the Constitutional Court’s decisions on the a quo article.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih advised the Petitioner to provide strong arguments to convince the Court. “What the Petitioner requests must be conveyed, so must the merit of the case. So, [the Petitioner] argues…, [the Petitioner] requests…, following the format, one by one. The Court should not be guessing what is requested, but it must be based on what the Petitioner wants. In this case, the Petitioner conveyed it in person [without proxy],” she said.

Next, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat requested the Petitioner to elaborate his legal standing. “If Mr. Jaya could convince [the Court] that ones with legal standing are not only political parties that have participated in the election, but also individuals such as [yourself]. The legal construct must be build so that the Court could change its stance and grant legal standing to Indonesian citizens,” he said.

Before concluding the hearing, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat said the Petitioner was given 14 workdays to revise the petition, which should be received by the Registrar’s Office by Monday, March 21, 2022.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/9/2022 10:55 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

---